Wednesday, March 22, 2006

I don't like romance novels. I hate them. But I love romance IN novels. This is the sequel to the last book I read, Girl, 15, Charming But Insane. It's a funny story, with a lot of romance, but the romance is not the story. In the last book Jess decided she was not truly in love with the boy she was obsessed with (Ben) and she realized her true feelings for her best mate, Fred. This book picks up a few months later after Fred and Jess have become an item. Thinking she's going to have the best summer in the world now that she has a boyfriend, Jess can't wait for it to begin. And then she gets the news that her mum has scheduled a 2-3 week road trip to go see her Dad and to see boring literary historical landmarks along the way. Jess is devastated. How will she survive without Fred? But more importantly, how will Fred resist the temptations of the evil beautiful women playing tennis sexily? Especially her best friend, the blond perfect Flora.

Jess and Fred are hysterical together. Instead of the usual sappy romance, they're funny. They insult each other but it's in a loving way. Jess is a great character and I loved her overreactions to everything (she constantly feared Fred would be cheating on her and blew everything out of proportion whenver any girl talked to him). Although they kept in pretty close contact because of text messaging on their cell phones, Jess still freaked out and there was still miscommunication and drama. You'd think when someone is in constant contact there would be no misunderstandings , but with teens there are ALWAYS misunderstandings.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Jessica Jordan is a 15 year old British girl with low self-esteem, flaky friends, and boy problems. Sound familiar? While similiar to Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson series (Angus, Thongs & Full-Frontal Snogging), Jess is a much much nicer character than Georgia. She isn't quite so self-asborbed, and she isn't mean. She thinks her arse is too big and her boobs too small (who doesn't?) and she's confused about boys-- there's the stud she's obsessed with and then her best mate who has always been there for her but is he really just a friend? Jess is a likeable character and this is an enjoyable story. The best part is Jess's mom is a librarian so there are funny lines about librarians. Naturally, being a librarian I thought this was hilarious. This by far is the funniest:

"You might think that being a librarian would be a quiet, cushy job, but sometimes it seemed that the library was really a nightmarish extension of the mean streets and that librarians were just cops and paramedics disguised in tweedy cardigans and long dangly parrot earrings from the charity shop."

This is a good story, it's funny and Jess is a good character. There is a hysterical bit about Jess using sandwich bags full of minestrone to um, enhance, a certain area of her body with disastrous results. It's definitely a girl's book, I don't see many boys being tempted to read it. Although the word "sex" appears frequently, the act itself never appears. A good book for both middle school and high school girls, it'll leave you excited to read the sequel.

Friday, March 10, 2006

I am not a 6th grade boy. And I liked this book. My middle school book group (made up of 6th grade boys. ALL boys. ALL 6th grade. Feel my pain. ;-) ) chose this book because they wanted to read a boy book that wasn't fantasy. And because the ringleader had already read it.

I think I'm probably the last person to have read this, so I'll skip the summary. Everyone knows all about the Alex Rider books now. He's a teen James Bond, a reluctant spy-hero, fighting the evil forces that killed his spy-Uncle. It's very easy to read--the language and plot are perfect for those reluctant reader boys. It's action-packed and reads like a movie (no surprise a movie will be made). Alex is a likeable boy, he's capable of taking care of himself, but makes mistakes along the way. He's not cocky or arrogant (at least not in this first book, I can't speak for the rest of the series). It's a very quick read, particularly because it's so action-packed it's hard to put down. You want to keep reading to see if Alex can get out of the mess he's in.